For the Love of Money and all things Beautiful
by Kagen Brown
Summary: Side story from the Fit to Burst Series. Happens just after Fit to Try. Cira's hunt for her parents.
1. Chapter 1

This is a side story from the Fit to Burst Series. This one happens a short time after the end of Fit to Try. Nihlus found some info on Cira's parents and sent it to her. Cira agreed to help design and build the Normandy but she wants to locate her parents first. Chapters probably won't be very long at all as this will just be a short little story. Enjoy.

* * *

There wasn't much info in what Nihlus sent to her but it was enough for Cira to be able to really begin her investigation. Mostly it was a complicated web of money transactions between bank accounts based all over the galaxy. Accounts that would have taken her years to access without Spectre authorization. There where gaps in the web, most likely where some other form of payment had been used aside from credits, but those pieces she could put together when she came to them. Closer examination of the web led her to the planet Vahn Conom and to a shipping company run by a Turian man named Dygiris. She was in a quiet little room now, waiting to talk to Dygiris. The Salarian receptionist kept peeking at her over half moon spectacles while pretending to be reading some kind of science magazine but Cira could feel the daggers shooting from the woman's pupils every time she glanced up. It made her antsy and she struggled to keep still in her plush armchair, her eyes stubbornly glued to the mundane pictures of scenery adorning the pale green walls. The fact that she might finally get some answers as to her parent's whereabouts only added to her nervousness. The steady increase in her back account attested to them still being alive, but they hadn't contacted her since before she was enrolled in Hailroy Academy. They hadn't even tried to reach her when the school was attacked. Cira could have died in that attack and her parents wouldn't know the difference. The thought brought cold and bitter tears to her eyes and she barely held them back as another Salarian woman stepped into the room and informed her that Dygiris was ready to see her.

* * *

"As you know I just run a simple shipping company. There is no record of any business transactions with a Carlo or Mira Roselli in my log book, so I'm very sorry but I can't help you."

Speaking with Dygiris hadn't been helpful. Cira had not been allowed to actually see his business logs so she had to take his word for it. If there were any personas that her parents may have used, she didn't know them, but still, Dygiris's name had come up multiple times when following the money trail from Nihlus so she knew that he was connected to her parents somehow. Maybe their transactions weren't in the official log book for a reason. Cira thanked him for his time and he walked her back out to the waiting room, where she took her leave. Maybe her parents had used a persona when dealing with Dygiris or maybe they hadn't but Cira had to see the log book for herself. After she left she ran a diagnostic of the building's security. It was well protected, but there weren't many buildings that she couldn't get into one way or another.

Later that night, Cira approached one of the outside vents on the building. She had taken a look at it earlier and knew that her little spool of Sizzle Wire (not the official name for it but it had a nice ring to it), would easily cut through. She pressed the wire along the perimeter of the grate and touched it with the little gun. The wire glowed blue and sank into the metal until the grate fell forward into Cira's waiting hands. She set the grate down to the side and crawled into the vent. It would be a bit of a climb to Dygiris's office but she could manage. She kept an eye out for anything in the vents that would trigger an alarm, but it seemed like Dygiris hadn't expected anyone to crawl in through the vents so for now she was ok. It took her about 25 minutes to reach the office. She peered down into the room, and seeing no one, pushed the grate open. At least she didn't have to cut through this one. From her scan of the building earlier, she knew that there wasn't much security inside the office. The console on the desk was protected, as were the locking filing cabinets and a safe in the corner. For now she would just take a look at the official log book which was kept in the second desk drawer on the left. She hacked into the camera systems and put the office cameras on a loop of the last 10 minutes recorded before dropping down into the room. After slipping on some gloves, she pulled open the drawer and pulled out the log book. She flipped through it page by page but did not see her parent's names and the few names that stood out to her, Habilin Jessop, Feria Cout, Nassana Dantius, Braytus Rhara, made no sense as personas, though she didn't really know much about her parents to judge what kind of name they would use. Still, the names had stood out so she wrote them down and filed them away for further investigation.

Next she examined the safe, the decryption was very complicated and it took her a while to get into it but she was able to open it successfully. There were credit chits in there and some more business ledgers that still did not contain her parent's names. She figured this ledger housed some of the less legal transactions that the shipping company undoubtedly took part in. But she wasn't here to investigate the company itself so she put the ledger back in its place and relocked the safe. The file cabinets were next. Cracking the locks on them was not nearly as difficult as the safe and in no time at all she was leafing through file after file, again, writing down any names that popped out at her. When she had finished she ran one more scan of the room to make sure she hadn't missed anything. This time her scan picked up another signal; one that it hadn't caught when she had scanned the building from outside. She followed the signal to the corner of the room, on the floor. A quick inspection revealed that the carpet could be lifted up from the corner, revealing a small trap door. Cira lifted it up and underneath was another safe. An examination revealed that this safe would take a great deal of time to get open and even if she was successful, there would be a signal sent out to the building security notifying them that someone was trying to get in to it. She assumed that Dygiris would give the guards some kind of code so they knew it was him, but they knew that he was not here now so they would know that it was an intruder. With her current equipment, she could jam the signal for a while, hopefully long enough for her to look at whatever was inside and get out before security arrived. She began hacking the door, picking her way carefully through multiple layers of codes and firewalls put together to keep whatever was in there safe from even the most determined thief. But Cira had to know what was in there and why it was so well guarded so she picked away at the defenses, taking almost 45 minutes before she finally cut through the final layer and the safe was now unlocked. Cira set up her signal jammer before pulling the door open and snatching the contents. A small book, about 3"x5". Cira pulled open the cover and read the name written on the first page.

_Jarot Rosen_

Now that was a persona that her parent's might have used. Cira tucked the book into a pocket and closed the safe back. If Dygiris didn't know that there was an intruder tonight, he would know the next time he looked for that book. Cira's jammer was down now and she knew that it was only a matter of time before the guards arrived so she hopped up onto the desk and jumped for the vent, just barely managing to grasp the edge and pull herself in, lowering the grate into place as a turian guard burst into the room. Cira didn't wait to see if he realized where she had disappeared to, but silently made her way back to the outside vent.

When she crawled out she heard shouting. There were security guards doing a sweep of the grounds around the building. Cira sprinted toward the next building, keeping to the shadows and activating her cloaking device as she went. If she got out of there quickly, she would be fine. As she turned the corner though, a guard, who apparently was smart enough to think to check the surrounding buildings, spotted her.

"Hey you!"

Cira didn't stop; she ran right up to him and knocked the gun out of his hands before he could even aim it at her. He grabbed at her, but she ducked under his arms and spun around behind him, kicking at the backs of his knees so he collapsed forward, then jumping onto his back, pulling a knife from her sleeve and jamming it into the exposed flesh at his neck. A gurgling, choking sound erupted from his throat and blood sprayed from his mouth as he tried to scream. Cira jumped off of him and darted away, knowing that he would be dead in a minute and not wanting to be around when his buddies found him.

She had found what she had hoped for. Another clue toward her parents and as badly as she wanted to stop now and read what was in that tiny book, she had to wait until she was safe and sound back on her ship.


	2. Chapter 2

It was his sixth day in this colony and frankly, Nihlus wanted to get out of there as fast as possible. He didn't have anything against humans but the humans here kind of freaked him out. They were too… touchy for his taste, always had their hands on him in some form; his shoulders, arms, chest, legs. It was like they'd never seen a turian before. He was here by choice of course. He had rescued a human girl on his last official mission and figured he'd deliver her home personally. When he had, the girl's family had asked that he investigate some strange disappearances that had been occurring over the past few months. The council didn't have much interest in solving the problems of human colonies but Nihlus was not so cold as to leave without doing anything, so he had begun by searching the colony, investigating all of the residents, then searching the abandoned buildings in the dead lands, which is what the colonists called the areas of the planet where no crops would grow. There weren't many buildings in these areas, of course, the planet wasn't very large and there was only the one colony so it hadn't taken him to long. He just had one more building to check before he would be sure that the missing colonists were no longer on this world. In that case, he may ask the council to step in and send another Spectre. He wanted to help them but after his last mission he needed a break before tackling what could turn out to be a slaver ring.

He quickly cleared the perimeter of the last abandoned building to make sure there were no guards. Everything seemed alright so, with his gun at the ready, he kicked the door open. There was no one to be seen, at least on this floor. Nihlus was about to head up to the second floor when he heard a muffled cry from downstairs. He raced down the steps, being as quiet as he could, following the declarations of pain until he found the room they were in. He kicked this door in as well and took in the scene before him. There was a turian male tied up to a chair, blood streaming from the side of his face where his captor had apparently whacked him with the butt of her pistol. Nihlus leveled his gun at the assailant, ready to fire if he had to, until she turned around.

"Cira? Spirits, what are you doing?"

It seemed to take her a while to register that it was her friend standing in front of her. When her brain caught up, she smiled broadly and waved to him.

"Hey Nihlus! I didn't know you were here. How have you been?"

"Oh, I'm pretty good, just going around saving people. Spectre stuff. How about you?"

"I'm cool thanks. Just trying to find my parents. Thanks for the info by the way. I don't think I thanked you in person."

"It was no problem. Glad to help. Now what are you doing?"

Cira turned back to her prisoner who had been watching their exchange with disbelieving eyes.

"Oh, I found out that my parents were receiving several shipments but I couldn't figure out where they were delivered to."

"So you kidnapped the delivery boy?"

"Yes. But he won't tell me anything. I'm going to get an answer though, won't I?"

This last part was directed at the delivery boy in question who shook his head enthusiastically, determined to keep quiet. Cira scowled at him and raised her gun to hit him again. But Nihlus darted toward her, catching her wrist before she could make contact. She glanced up at him questioningly.

"Let me talk to him for a bit."

She didn't even take a second to consider the suggestion. She nodded once and walked quickly out of the room. Nihlus sighed and rubbed a palm against his face before turning his attention back to the prisoner.

"Dude, she's gonna kill you… I'm sure what she's got planned is going to be far worse than what will happen if your boss finds out you broke your confidentiality agreement."

He considered this for a moment then nodded his consent. Nihlus smirked, "Good choice."

He left the room briefly to retrieve Cira and when they both returned the Turian delivery boy gave them what information he had.

Apparently the packages had been delivered to a warehouse owned by a 47 year old human woman named Ginnie Harver. From what Cira could tell, Harver was a completely ordinary person; she was the manager of a Wal-Mart a few blocks from her home and had been there for almost 27 years. She was single, with her two nieces and a three dogs living with her.

Her brother had been in the Alliance and had been killed in action; his wife then promptly decided that she would rather eat a bullet then remain alive to care for their two daughters. Thus the girls moved in with Ginnie. Cira could find nothing about her that would link the woman to her parents, but that didn't mean she didn't know anything. It was worth paying her a visit. After all, the packages that her parents ordered were stored at Ginnie's warehouse for however long so she at least had a business relationship with them.

Cira pressed her hands over her eyes. She was finally on the path to getting some answers, after all of this time but…

"What if they don't want me to find them?"

Nihlus looked up from his omni-tool. They were both now in the cockpit of Cira's little ship. He had been running diagnostics on the ships systems and as he had expected, it was probably the best vehicle you could find in the galaxy. But examining it could come later; for now, his friend needed him. Cira lowered her head until it rested on the console in front of her.

"Why else would they have left in the first place? Why else would they make it so hard for me to find them?"

"Does it matter?"

She uncovered one of her eyes to peak out at him. "What do you mean 'does it matter'?"

"You want to find them. You want to know what happened to them and it seems to me that they owe you some answers. Would you be able to live with yourself if you didn't at least try?"

She shook her head slowly.

"Well there you go. If they don't want to be found, that's their problem. Worry about yourself first."

"But what if I don't like what I find? They've been gone for so long…what if the people I find aren't my parents anymore?"

Nihlus reached out and placed a hand on her shoulder, comforting her.

"Then you have me and you have Saren. He'll never admit it but I have no problem thinking of you as family. Kind of like the little sister I never had… wait, no that doesn't work, we were dating."

"Saren thinks of me as family?"

"Well, maybe not family yet, but definitely a potential mate."

Cira smirked, "We're already 'mating' Nihlus."

"Ha ha, trust me I know. But I mean a serious mate, a bond mate."

_Oh…_

The thought definitely surprised her. Saren wasn't known for being friendly towards humans and though she appeared to be an exception, Cira hadn't thought that Saren would ever want to marry her. At least she guessed that "bond mate" was equivalent to wife.

"Why would Saren bond with a human?"

"Well technically he doesn't see you as human first, but as Cira. He respects you and your abilities and to be honest, he's really not that sought after in the marriage market. I think that the affection you've shown him has made him see you in that way."

Cira beamed at him looking slightly proud as well. She should be. She had blown through the protective shell of the most stubborn Turian Nihlus had ever met. It was definitely an accomplishment. A flash of realization crosses Cira's face as she remembers what they had been talking about before the conversation turned to Saren.

"We were talking about what would happen if I didn't find my parents."

"And I made you forget all about it didn't I."

Cira punched him lightly on the arm and charted a course to Lenistine. While Nihlus leaned back in his chair, ready to doze off.

"You'll be fine Roselli."


	3. Chapter 3

**Hey guys, sorry I've been long away. First semester at a major university and things are busy. I'm trying to participate in NanoWrimo so hopefully I can find the time to finish up this story and move on to Fit to Love. That will be the last main story in the Tale of Saren and Cira but I will still post side stories if I think of any. Seriously though guys if there is a side story you want to see throw it out there. 50000 words is a lot to write and I only have a limited amount of material when it comes to S &amp; C. I might do some work on other fanfictions as well but I'd prefer to finish this series before moving on to another. So message me if you have anything.**

**Kagen out.**

When they arrived at Ginnie Harver's residence no one was home. Ginnie herself was still at work and her nieces were in school. Cira and Nihlus crept up to the house and Cira hacked the low-end electronic locks easily. When they were inside, they looked around for any information on the packages that Cira's parents had been keeping in Ginnie's warehouse. They searched for a few hours before giving up and leaving, not wanting to be in the house when Ginnie got home. Instead they went to her warehouse address. The locks here were a little more complicated and Cira worked at them while Nihlus kept watch.

When they finally got in, they saw that at this current moment in time, the warehouse was empty but it was huge, large enough to fit a standard frigate from the Citadel fleet.

"What is a Wal-Mart manager doing with a warehouse this big?" Nihlus breathed, his voice echoing in the large space.

"It belonged to her father. He was an engineer and a business man; made his fortune by creating advanced ship engines. Of course more advances in technology have been made since his death but his work was pretty high tech for his time and the Citadel fleet has always needed more ships. He would also rent out the space for anyone who needed somewhere to assemble their ships."

"Good girl you did your research." Nihlus smirked at her and she rolled her eyes at him.

There was an office space on the second floor walkway and Cira made a beeline for the stairs. It was locked…then it wasn't and she went inside to look around. There were various data files strewn over the desk and she began to sort through them, looking for anything about her parents. When she didn't find anything, she hacked into the terminal on the desk and searched through the files on there.

"Bingo."

Behind a complicated encryption and multiple firewalls were files containing her parent's cover name, Jarot Rosen. She pulled up the files so she could read them. They were business transactions, mostly stuff about Rosen storing things in the warehouse for a limited time; the mysterious packages that Cira kept reading about. Other than that there was nothing new. Someone else picked up the packages so there was no shipping address. If they wanted to find any answers here, they would need to speak to Ginnie. They left the warehouse and headed back to the Harver residence.

"I don't know where they take the containers. Rosen just pays me to store them in the warehouse for a while. I don't know what's in them and I don't care. I need the extra cash."

Ginnie was sitting on her couch with Cira sitting across from her in an arm chair and Nihlus leaning against the chair behind her. One of Ginnie's nieces, Mari, sat in her lap and Cira got the impression that Ginnie was using her as a shield.

"I don't care about what's in them either. Or at least I care more about just finding Rosen. If you could at least help with that—,"

"No I can't. Like I said, I just store the containers then one of Rosen's men picks them up. I don't know where they go after that."

Cira sighed and ran a palm over her face. "When is the next package arriving?"

"What?"

"The next package. Rosen stores them in your warehouse periodically right? When is the next one coming?"

"Maybe never. You captured one of their delivery men. If he told Rosen about you he might not think it's safe to store anything here."

Cira glanced back at Nihlus. "I knew we should have killed him."

He shrugged and Cira turned back to Ginnie and Mari.

"You have no way to contact him?"

"No—well…I have a number. He gave it to me to call if something ever happened that endangered his packages."

"Then give it to me." Cira glared at the woman. Parading her niece around in front of them may seem to Ginnie like a good way to keep from getting shot but it wasn't going to inspire any sympathy when she kept wasting their time.

"Of course. Give me a moment."

She got up and left the room, leaving Mari standing there looking shyly at the ground. She was only 8 or 9, two years older than her sister Hannah. She looked a lot like Ginnie but that was no surprise. Ginnie and her brother had been twins and shared a lot of similar features. Cira watched Mari twist back and forth, rooted to the same spot for what felt like eternity before glancing back at Nihlus with a look of suspicion. He nodded to her and Cira stood, Mari's gaze rose to meet hers.

"Hey Mari, where is your bathroom?"

"It's down the hallway and up the stairs. Second door on the right." She pointed in the general direction before quickly lowering her gaze again.

"I'll be right back Nihlus."

He nodded again and she made her way down the hall. The house was large for only three people and there were many rooms; each of which Cira and Nihlus had checked earlier. She went back through them a second time looking for Ginnie. It took her a minute to realize that Mari had followed her from the living room. The girl was really quiet.

"The bathroom is this way."

She wormed her way in front of Cira and started leading her toward the stairs.

"You could have stayed in the living room."

"I've never seen a Turian before."

oh…

"We learned about them in school but they're kinda scary in real life." She squeezed her hands together as she padded quietly down the hallway. Cira followed, still glancing in any open doors that they passed.

"Oh yeah, what else do you learn about in school?"

"We learn about math and vocab and history and all of the Council races and some about other races too. I don't remember much of that stuff."

They were upstairs now. Cira remembered that there was an office up here. There were a few offices in the house but the one up here seemed to be getting the most use. Mari turned right at the top of the stairs and Cira followed her, going into the bathroom.

"It's a lot to remember. Mari, could you go and get me a glass of water?"

"But the Turian…"

"It's ok. He looks scary but Turians can be really nice. He's kind of like a teddy bear."

_The kind of teddy bear that shoots people and works as a hit-man for the Council._

"You should say hi."

She nodded hesitantly and left. Once she disappeared back down stairs, Cira left the bathroom and made her way down to Ginnie's office. As she got closer she heard voices and paused to listen.

"I don't know who they are. They just came by and started asking questions.—no I didn't get names—Yes it was stupid of me but—I don't know, a turian and a human woman.—She's blonde, really short; why is this important? You—you want me to let them stay here? But their dangerous! What about Mari and Hannah? I—yes, I understand…"

She hung up and Cira darted away from the door, hopping down the stairs and reentering the living room just as Mari was coming in from the kitchen with two glasses of water clutched in her hands. She handed one to Cira and one to Nihlus who thanked her and grinned. Mari backed up a step, still wary of him, but smiled back nervously. Cira retook her seat just as Ginnie came back into the room.

"Here" She handed Cira a slip of paper. "That's the number you can call to contact him. You two are welcome to stay here for a little while. You must have come a long way to find Rosen; some rest would do you good."

Nihlus shook his head "Thanks for the offer but we'd—"

"We'd love to stay." Cira cut him off. He tapped her shoulder and she turned to look at him.

"Just for a few days. We need to replenish our supplies before we head out anyway." She turned back to Ginnie. "We'd love to stay."

Ginnie grinned and stood. "Then I'll show you to your rooms."

She walked off with Cira and Nihlus following close behind while Mari stayed put in the living room.

"Why are we staying Cira? We got what we needed." Nihlus was pacing across the room, frustrated and determined to wear a hole into the carpet. Cira sat on the bed in what was to be her room for the next few days, trying to think of what to do next.

"We're staying because whoever Ginnie was talking to wanted us to stay."

"She wasn't talking to your mother or father?"

"I don't know. The voice wasn't clear and it was filtered so I couldn't tell."

"So we don't know who she was talking to, but whoever it was wanted us to stay here so…what. So they could come meet us? Cira this is probably a trap."

She sighed. "I know, but it's probably also the fastest way to get answers. We'll just stay for a few days and if nothing happens, we'll leave. I have a number so I'll need to make a call eventually but not yet. We'll see if this goes anywhere first."

Nihlus's omni-tool pinged and he pulled up his messages. After reading through his newest one, he glanced at Cira, "Looks like we may need to wait on finding Rosen."

"What?" Cira popped up off of the bed. "Why?"

He showed her the message. It was a summons from the Council. They needed him to report for some new missions.

"Go on and go Nihlus. I can handle things here."

"Oh no. I'm not leaving you alone to face this. Let's make a quick stop by the Citadel so I can report in then we can continue."

"But I have to wait here-"

"You don't have to do anything. Rosen obviously wants to get his hands on you otherwise he wouldn't have wanted you to stay. I'm not leaving you here without any backup."

"And I'm not leaving here." They were in each other's faces now. Cira had her arms planted firmly on her hips and Nihlus had his crossed in front of his chest. Neither of them backed down. Nihlus hated the idea of leaving her here but he couldn't just refuse a summons.

"I'm calling Saren. His missions weren't that difficult so he should be about done with them."

Cira rolled her eyes and made to sit back on the bed when Nihlus grabbed both of her arms and shook her lightly.

"Cira, please. Please don't do anything until he gets here. If something happened and you got hurt, it'd kill him. It'd kill both of us. Please. Just until he gets here."

Cira hesitated, thinking his request through before nodding her consent. Who knew where Saren was in the galaxy. His missions hadn't been too hard, Cira had known that but would he really take the time to help her with this? Only one way to find out.


	4. Chapter 4

**Hello! I decided to start another fanfiction just to get a break from trying to figure this one out. I know how I want this to end, it's the getting there that is difficult. The chapters are still pretty short because technically this is just a side story. I just mentioned her parents during the main story so I figured I'd explain what happened. Hopefully I can finish this one up quickly then move on to Fit to Love which as I think I mentioned will be the last main story in the Fit to Burst series. I've put out a call before and I will again, if anyone has a suggestion as to any side stories you want to see with Saren and Cira I'd be happy to write something for you!**

**Kagen out.**

Cira paced back and forth in a circle in the small room that had been lent to her by Ginnie Harver. It had been barely a day since Nihlus had left to report to the Citadel but Cira was already anxious, wondering if anything would happen before Saren arrived. He was on his way. He'd said as much in his reply to Nihlus's email. Most of his Spectre business was taken care of and he had some time to kill so he agreed to help out. By Cira's calculations, it would take him at least another 28 hours to arrive. She just had to hold out until then.

She was about to start another circuit around the cramped space when there was a quiet knock on the door. Cira opened it just a crack and peeked out, seeing Mari standing there and grinning up at her.

"Aunt Ginnie made lunch!"

"Oh, thank you for letting me know. I'll be right out."

The girl bobbed her head up and down quickly before darting back down the hall toward the dining room. Cira sighed; 28 hours. Whether or not Rosen really was her mother or father, they wanted her here so whatever was going to happen would happen soon but Cira hoped that she could hang on for 28 more hours. She left the room and joined Ginnie, Mari and Hannah in the dining room. They were all already seated and laughing at something that Ginnie had said. Cira took a seat and Ginnie got her a plate. Lunch was apparently chicken quesadillas and Cira picked up a piece of one, running a scan on it very stealthy like before deeming it safe to eat.

After they had all finished, the two girls gathered up the plates and cups and brought them into the kitchen. Ginnie addressed Cira, "So it appears that another package has arrived for Rosen. If you want to take a look at it it's in the warehouse; I can show you." Cira agreed and the two of them left the house, traveling in Ginnie's car to the warehouse. When Ginnie opened the door, Cira saw that the space was no longer completely empty. There was a large metal container sitting in the center of the warehouse.

"That's Rosen's?" Cira stepped closer to the container, examining it closely."

"Yes that's his. Would you like to open it?"

"No. I don't need to know what's inside. I just need to know where it's going after here. Wherever it goes is where I'll find Jarot Rosen."

Cira left the warehouse and Ginnie locked it back up. "Not that it's any of my business, but why are you trying to find him?"

Cira eyed her suspiciously, "You're right; it's none of your business. You keep saying 'him'. Are you saying that Jarot Rosen is male?"

She held her hands up defensively, "I don't actually know. Whenever he calls or when I call him, the voice sounds male so I just assumed…I haven't met him though. Like I've said, he just uses the warehouse."

They traveled back to the house and from the privacy of her guest room, Cira typed out a message to Saren.

_Saren,_

_There is a new package here for Jarot Rosen. The timing is weird so I'm not going to open it and hopefully someone will come to collect it soon. I don't know how close you are to getting here but just in case you don't make it in time I'll leave a way for you to track my ship and follow me._

_Hurry up,_

_Cira_

She sent the message off and settled in to wait. It would still most likely be quite a while before Saren arrived and unfortunately she hadn't brought anything to tinker with while she waited so she brought up the schematics and designs for the SSV Normandy and went over them trying to think of areas that could use improvement.

Later that night as Cira lay sleeping she dreamt of Hailroy. Gunfire and screams filled her ears and there was blood everywhere and bodies around every corner. Their eyes were all open and they were all staring at her as if they could still see her, as if they were still expecting her to save them. She wandered through the halls watching her classmates fall, and the mercenaries crash through the school like a wave of death and destruction.

_They were better than this._

Voices begging and pleading for their lives as bullets flew.

_They should have been better than this._

A little blonde girl hiding in a cabinet surrounded by the remains of the only world she knew.

_They should have been better than you._

And a Council Spectre raiding the school after the souls of the students and staff had long since vanished into the cold thin air.

_It shouldn't have been you._

Cira sat in that cabinet, watching herself leave to chase after Saren. She sat there long after they had left and long after the school had been officially shut down. After the bodies had been cleared away and the blood stains cleaned, Cira sat there in the cabinet, surrounded by her force field as if nothing had happened during these past two years; as if she had never left. As if she could never leave.

Cira opened one eyelid slightly. Nothing had changed. She was in bed, in the room that Ginnie had lent her. It was 2:00 in the morning and the world was dark. Nothing had changed but her dream had unsettled her. She woke herself fully and sat up, starring into the darkness, making out shapes that shifted and changed. The air was dry and stifling and she got up, unlocking her door and making her way downstairs and out the front door.

It is colder out here and Cira shivers violently, rubbing her arms vigorously to bring some warmth back to them. The chill is nice though and she focuses on the feeling of the air brushing against her skin; a gentle wind that sweeps her hair back and raises those tiny bumps on her arms. It is quiet, eerily so. Where there would normally be songs sung by crickets there were whispers from ghosts long forgotten.

_Are there even any crickets on this planet…unlikely._

Cira didn't remember much about her old home, where she had lived with her parents, but she remembered that there were crickets and they would sing her to sleep every night, their rhythmic chirping like a lullaby to her young ears.

No lullabies tonight though but Cira could hear something now. Not chirping but a constant 'tap tap tap'. It took her only a second longer to recognize the sound as footsteps; they were coming toward her quickly. She spun around and there her attacker was. She ducked down just in time to miss getting a fist to the face though his punch still hit the top of her head, knocking her to the side a few inches. She kicked out at the man's legs and he went down. Cira immediately scrambled on top of him and pinned his legs before trying to grab his wrists. He had something in his hand, a pouch. He reached into it and Cira grabbed for it, not knowing what it was and not wanting to find out. She knocked the bag from his grasp and it fell to the ground, its contents spilling onto the concrete. It was some kind of powder but Cira couldn't see it well in the dark. She successfully pinned one of the man's hands and was about to grab for the other one when he opened his other palm, which held some of the unknown powder and tossed it right into her face. Cira reared up as the powder got into her eyes and nose and she was immediately thrown back by her assailant. Whatever he had thrown at her burned in her eyes and made them water like crazy and she started couching from the powder that she had inhaled. Her nostrils and throat felt like they were on fire and she groaned as whoever was attacking her grabbed her wrists. She pulled away from him and started crawling in the direction of the house. Maybe she could wake Ginnie, she couldn't scream though. Her throat was constricting painfully and she could only force out a quiet squeak. The man grabbed her again and she fought pitifully against him.

She was starting to feel funny; light, like she was floating. It was a strange feeling and it was amazing. She laughed, a short dry laugh followed by another bout of couching. She was finally able to open her eyes and when she did the night sky was bright and pink and green and blue, everything was so light and colorful that it made her dizzy and the world shook. She felt something gripping her forearm and then she was up on her feet and walking, or trying to walk but her feet wouldn't obey her and she wasn't sure if she really was upright. Someone was leading her though she didn't know where. She was starting to feel sick and her mind was wandering, recalling memories of her time with Saren, the few missions that he had taken her on and their time in the training facility. She laughed again as she counted the different facial expressions that Saren had ever made in her presence and made a game of trying to guess what they all meant.

She was inside a building now. Not Ginnie's house though. She was still being dragged along and suddenly she was released into complete darkness. She squeezed her eyes shut and sat down. Wherever she was, the floor was metal and cold and unyielding but she curled up anyway. She was tired. No more fighting or searching; just the gentle embrace of a dreamless sleep. The most peaceful sleep she'd had in a long time.


End file.
